My most trusted companion is a cream shiba named Byako. I found him on the street, abandoned, about 9.5 years ago in Boulder, Colorado (he's about 10.5 years old now). It was like love at first sight :) He was 1 year old according to the vets when I brought him to the shelter to find his owners... Long story short, I adopted him soon thereafter and we've been a pair ever since. We moved to Philadelphia and then to Paris and now, we've been in Brussels for a little over 4 years. Byako is hyper sensitive, extremely intelligent and the sweetest dog I've ever known. But now, whether it be age or allergies or the lack of stability through the years or something completely different, I have the horrible impression that my little friend is falling apart.

In early April 2017, Byako developed a severe ear infection in both ears. The vet immediately put him on cortisone, which cleared up the infection within a week. As soon as we stopped the cortisone, the infection came back in his left ear. So we put him back on cortisone. Then, once off the meds, he got an eye infection, followed by a skin infection on his belly... I'm assuming he developed a dependence on cortisone by this point.

Now, his coat is falling out in clumps and he has what seems to be hot spots all over his body, especially on his back and legs, as well as hundreds of scabs and general redness. He reaks of sickness; he's never smelled so bad. He's been wearing the "cone of shame" most of the time since the initial ear infection (for about 3 months now!!). My heart is broken, broken, broken. He's desperately miserable and I don't know what to do. The vet has now taken him off cortisone and put him on Apoquel, an anti-allergy, anti-itching med, which I'm hesitant to keep him on as it demolishes essential parts of the dog’s internal disease fighting systems and increases the risk of tumours. I'm convinced that all of this is NOT allergies although every vet we've seen insists it so! They haven't requested to do a blood test despite my insistence but they haven't found a solution either!

I'm at my whit's end. I will do anything to help Byako despite the fact that I feel like I'm running out of options and disposable income. Any help/support/guidance from members would be hugely appreciated. Thanks in advance for all of your help.

There are literally dozens of threads on allergies, Apoquel, and other dermatologic issues already on the forum. Please read through those for suggestions and to hear other's stories. Once you do so, if you have further questions on this or want to continue the conversation, please feel free to do so in an existing thread.

Since this is a duplicate topic, I am going to go ahead and close this thread.

Casey, with Bella and Nola, hanging out in the mountains of Virginia.I Wander, I Ride